EP0550245B1 - Génération et affichage de traits de forme libre dans des afficheurs graphiques - Google Patents

Génération et affichage de traits de forme libre dans des afficheurs graphiques Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0550245B1
EP0550245B1 EP92311715A EP92311715A EP0550245B1 EP 0550245 B1 EP0550245 B1 EP 0550245B1 EP 92311715 A EP92311715 A EP 92311715A EP 92311715 A EP92311715 A EP 92311715A EP 0550245 B1 EP0550245 B1 EP 0550245B1
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Prior art keywords
curve
points along
offset
left offset
horizontal
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German (de)
English (en)
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EP0550245A3 (fr
EP0550245A2 (fr
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Victor Klassen
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Xerox Corp
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Xerox Corp
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
    • G06T11/00—2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
    • G06T11/20—Drawing from basic elements, e.g. lines or circles
    • G06T11/203—Drawing of straight lines or curves

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for generating and displaying freeform strokes of varying or constant width and, more specifically, to a method and apparatus for generating and displaying points along a centerline curve and right and left offset curves of a freeform stroke of varying or constant width using an adaptive forward differencing technique.
  • Freeform curves which have no width, have useful applications in, for example, computer aided design and manufacturing systems, computer graphics, graphic arts, and typesetting for creating curved surfaces (see, e.g., US-A-4,943,935 issued to Sato , which discloses a method and apparatus for expressing curved surfaces using curves of an nth order such as Bezier cubic curves).
  • Freeform strokes which have widths, also have useful applications in, for example, computer aided design and manufacturing systems, computer graphics, graphic arts, and typesetting for creating both uniform and variable width shapes and figures (see, e.g., US-A-No. 4,674,058 issued to Lindbloom et al. , which discloses a method and apparatus for representing and recreating two dimensional arbitrary shapes using Bezier curves).
  • WO-A1- 84/02993 discloses an apparatus and method for generating curves of uniform, that is, non-varying width.
  • EP-A2- 0,545,664 discloses a method and apparatus for generating freeform strokes of varying or constant width but does not use adaptive forward differencing to generate the centre-line curves.
  • Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for generating and displaying points along a centerline curve and right and left offset curves of a freeform stroke of varying or constant width using an adaptive forward differencing technique.
  • a method of generating and displaying a freeform stroke of varying or constant width comprising the steps of generating, using an adaptive forward differencing technique in accordance with a step size of a parameter t, points along a centerline curve of the freeform stroke, the centerline curve being a spline curve varying as a function of the parameter t, and each of the points along the centerline curve being associated with a horizontal coordinate defined by a function x(t), a vertical coordinate defined by a function y(t), and a width defined by a function w(t); generating a normal vector associated with each of the points along the centerline curve; generating points along a right offset curve and a left offset curve for corresponding ones of the points along the centerline curve, each of the points along the right and left offset curves being associated with a horizontal coordinate and a vertical coordinate generated in accordance with the horizontal coordinate, vertical coordinate, width, and normal vector
  • an apparatus for generating and displaying a freeform stroke of varying or constant width comprising a circuit for generating, using an adaptive forward differencing technique in accordance with a step size of a parameter t, points along a centerline curve of the freeform stroke, the centerline curve being a spline curve varying as a function of the parameter t, and each of the points along the centerline curve being associated with a horizontal coordinate defined by a function x(t), a vertical coordinate defined by a function y(t), and a width defined by a function w(t); a circuit for generating a normal vector associated with each of the points along the centerline curve; a circuit for generating points along a right offset curve and a left offset curve for corresponding ones of the points along the centerline curve, each of the points along the right and left offset curves being associated with a horizontal coordinate and a vertical coordinate generated in accordance with the horizontal coordinate, vertical coordinate, width, and normal vector
  • a freeform stroke is defined by a centerline curve and a right and left offset curve.
  • the right and left offset curves are each a distance w from the centerline curve, the distance w being defined along a normal to each point along the centerline curve.
  • an offset curve is defined on both sides of the centerline curve.
  • the term “left offset curve” designates the offset curve based upon a normal given by a positive sign
  • the term “right offset curve” designates the offset curve based upon a normal by the negative sign.
  • offset curve is used to refer to one or the other of the left and right offset curves, while the term “offset curve pair" indicates both the left and right offset curves.
  • offset point is used to refer to a point along an offset curve.
  • the centerline curve of the freeform stroke is a spline curve, i.e., a curve whose shape can be defined by a series of control points, as is known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
  • spline curves are Bezier curves and B-spline curves.
  • a freeform stroke generation and display system 10 for generating and displaying a freeform stroke of constant or varying width in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.
  • the system 10 comprises an input device 20, a processor 30, a forward differencing ("FD") unit 40, an adjustment unit 50, an offset generator 60, a display 70, and data/control busses 80, 90, and 100.
  • FD forward differencing
  • the system 10 comprises an input device 20, a processor 30, a forward differencing (“FD") unit 40, an adjustment unit 50, an offset generator 60, a display 70, and data/control busses 80, 90, and 100.
  • FD forward differencing
  • the input device 20 comprises, for example, any of a keyboard, mouse, touchscreen panel, and digitizer for enabling an operator of the system 10 to transmit to the processor 30 parameters associated with a plurality of control points which define a centerline curve of a freeform stroke to be generated and displayed.
  • the processor 30 comprises, for example, any standard CPU capable of initializing the FD unit 40 by determining forward differencing coefficients from the parameters transmitted by the input device 20, and capable of generating points along a right offset curve and a left offset curve for corresponding ones of the control points using the parameters associated with the control points and respective tangent vectors.
  • any standard CPU capable of initializing the FD unit 40 by determining forward differencing coefficients from the parameters transmitted by the input device 20, and capable of generating points along a right offset curve and a left offset curve for corresponding ones of the control points using the parameters associated with the control points and respective tangent vectors.
  • a Motorola 680x0, Intel/IBM R6000, or SPARC can be used as the processor 30.
  • the processor 30 executes a software program stored in a memory (not shown) to perform the functions described below in connection with the processor 30.
  • the FD unit 40 comprises, for example, circuitry for generating, using a forward differencing technique in accordance with a step size of a parameter t, points along a centerline curve of the freeform stroke, wherein the centerline curve varies as a function of the parameter t, and wherein each point along the centerline curve is associated with a horizontal coordinate defined by a function x(t), a vertical coordinate defined by a function y(t), and a width defined by a function w(t).
  • the FD unit 40 comprises FD circuits 100, 110, 120, 130, and 140 corresponding to the parameters x, y, w, dx/dt, and dy/dt, respectively.
  • each FD circuit includes four forwarding circuits F 0 through F 3 , each of which includes a data latch, an adder, and control logic (not shown).
  • each forwarding circuit has an input line, an output line, a clock line, a latch control line, and a data line, all of which are connected to the data/control busses 80 and 90. It should be understood that, when the latch control line is high, data on the data line is loaded into the data latch on a next clock cycle. When the latch control line is low, data on the input line is added to the data stored in the data latch on the next clock cycle. Further, the output line, preferably, always transmits the data stored in the latch. It should also be understood that the input line of the leftmost forwarding circuit of each FD circuit of Fig. 2 is fed with the constant zero.
  • the adjustment unit 50 of Fig. 1 comprises, for example, circuitry for updating coefficients stored in the forwarding circuits of the FD unit 40 in accordance with instructions from the offset generator 60.
  • the adjustment unit 50 comprises a plurality of registers, each corresponding to one of the FD circuits 100, 110, 120, 130, and 140, for storing the differencing coefficients.
  • the step adjustment circuit 50 preferably, also comprises control logic for updating the coefficients stored in its registers in accordance with a step size adjustment indicated by the offset generator 60, and for loading the updated coefficients, via the data/control bus 90, into corresponding ones of the forwarding circuits of the FD circuits 100, 110, 120, 130, and 140.
  • the offset generator 60 comprises, for example, circuitry for generating a unit normal vector associated with each point along the centerline curve generated by the FD unit 40, and for generating points along a right offset curve and a left offset curve for corresponding ones of the points along the centerline curve.
  • Each of the points along the right and left offset curves is associated with a horizontal coordinate and a vertical coordinate generated in accordance with the horizontal coordinate, vertical coordinate, width, and unit normal vector associated with a corresponding point along the centerline curve.
  • the offset generator 60 also comprises, for example, circuitry for specifying a step size adjustment in accordance with the screen coordinates of adjacent right and left offset points.
  • the display 70 of Fig. 1 comprises, for example, a color or monochrome visual display capable of displaying graphical representations of points along the centerline curve and the right and left offset curves generated by the offset generator 60.
  • the display 70 can comprise a printing device such as a laser printer or plotter.
  • step S1010 an operator transmits to the processor 30, via the input device 20, horizontal coordinates, vertical coordinates, and widths associated with a plurality of control points.
  • the control points define the shape of a centerline curve of a freeform stroke which is to be generated and displayed.
  • the parameters associated with each control point include a horizontal coordinate, a vertical coordinate, and a width.
  • step S1010 the operator inputs horizontal and vertical coordinates and widths associated with only four control points.
  • the operator inputs horizontal coordinates V0 x through V3 x , vertical coordinates V0 y through V3 y , and widths V0 w through V3 w which are associated with control points V0 through V3, respectively.
  • control point V0 and control point V3 are known to be points along the centerline curve and that control points V1 and V2 determine the shape of the centerline curve between the control points V0 and V3.
  • Step S1010 can be performed in many ways.
  • the input device 20 includes a floppy disk drive
  • the horizontal and vertical coordinates and widths associated with each control point can be stored on a floppy disk and transmitted directly to the processor 30.
  • the input device 20 includes a keyboard
  • the operator can transmit the coordinates and widths into the processor 30 by typing them on the keyboard.
  • the input device includes a mouse (not shown) and, as shown in Fig. 5, the operator controls the mouse to move a pointer 110 along the display 70' to a position on the display 70' corresponding to the desired coordinates associated with a control point.
  • the operator For example, "clicks” the mouse, whereupon the control point is displayed on the display 70'.
  • the described embodiment provides a circle on the display 70', having a radius R, centered around each control point, as also shown in Fig. 5.
  • the radius R corresponds to the width associated with the respective control point.
  • the operator uses the mouse to place the pointer 110 on the perimeter of a circle surrounding the control point. By “pulling” the perimeter of the circle either “in” or “out,” the operator can vary the radius R of the circle and, thereby, vary the width associated with the respective control point.
  • step S1030 the processor 30 initializes the FD unit 40 by loading, via the data/control bus 80, each of the initial forward differencing coefficients into a corresponding forwarding circuit of a corresponding one of the FD circuits 100, 110, 120, 130, and 140.
  • the processor 30 loads the initial coefficients ⁇ 0x through ⁇ 3x into the forwarding circuits F ox through F 3x , respectively, of the FD circuit 100; loads the initial coefficients ⁇ 0y through ⁇ 3y into the forwarding circuits F 0y through F 3y , respectively, of the FD circuit 110; loads the initial coefficients ⁇ 0w through ⁇ 3w into the forwarding circuits F 0w through F 3w , respectively, of the FD circuit 120; loads the initial coefficients ⁇ 0dx/dt through ⁇ 3dx/dt into the forwarding circuits F 0dx/dt through F 3dx/dt , respectively, of the FD circuit 130; and loads the initial coefficients ⁇ 0dy/dt through ⁇ 3dy/dt into the forwarding circuits F 0dy/dt through F 3dy/dt , respectively, of the FD circuit 140.
  • the loading of the initial coefficients into the forwarding circuits by the processor 30 can be accomplished by appropriate control of the clock lines, data lines, and latch control lines of each forwarding circuit. Specifically, the processor 30 places the initial coefficients on the corresponding data lines of the forwarding circuits, places a high signal on each of the latch control lines, and sends a clock pulse to each of the clock lines. Also in step S1030, the processor 30 stores the initial coefficients into corresponding registers of the adjustment unit 50 via data/control bus 100. After completion of step S1020, control passes to step S1040.
  • step S1040 the processor 30 generates right and left offset points corresponding to each of the control points V0 and V3.
  • V0 and V3 are known to be points along the centerline curve and, accordingly, the corresponding right and left offset points can be generated by the processor 30 using the coordinates and widths associated with the control points V0 and V3 and their respective tangent vectors.
  • step S1040 control passes to step S1050.
  • step S1050 the offset generator 60 converts the horizontal and vertical coordinates associated with the offset points corresponding to the control points V0 and V3 into horizontal and vertical screen coordinates, respectively.
  • the horizontal and vertical screen coordinates correspond to horizontal and vertical positions, respectively, of pixels on the display 70.
  • the offset generator 60 selects the high order bits of the internal representations for converting the horizontal coordinates into horizontal screen coordinates and for converting the vertical coordinates into vertical screen coordinates.
  • step S1060 the offset generator 60 designates the right and left offset points corresponding to the control point V0 as "current" right and left offset points, respectively. Also in step S1060, the offset generator 60 designates the right and left offset points corresponding to the control point V3 as "end” right and left offset points, respectively. Control then passes to step S1070.
  • step S1070 the offset generator 60 transmits the horizontal and vertical screen coordinates associated with the "current" offset points to the display 70, wherein the display 70 displays graphical representations of the "current" offset points to display a portion of, i.e., two points along, the outer boundary of the freeform curve.
  • step S1080 control passes to step S1080.
  • step S1080 the offset generator 60 determines whether the screen coordinates associated with the "current” offset points are the same as the screen coordinates associated with the "end” offset points. If the offset generator 60 determines that the screen coordinates associated with the "current” offset points are the same as the screen coordinates associated with the "end” offset points, operation of the system 10 is stopped. Otherwise, control passes to step S1090.
  • step S1090 the offset generator 60 determines whether to instruct the adjustment unit 50 to update the forward differencing coefficients stored in the latches of the FD unit 40. Specifically, if the x and y coordinates of both of the new offset points are in the same pixel as the corresponding current offset points, it instructs the adjustment unit 50 to double the step size, in which case the adjustment unit 50 uses the values of the coefficients before the step was taken to compute new coefficients corresponding to a step size twice as large, and loads them into the latches of the FD unit 40.
  • step S1090 control passes to step S1100.
  • step S1100 the processor 30 controls the FD unit 40, via the data/control bus 80, to perform one "step" of a forward differencing technique on the updated coefficients that were loaded into its forwarding circuits by the adjustment unit 50 in step S1090.
  • the processor 30 places a low signal on the latch control lines of each forwarding circuit in the FD unit 40 and sends one clock pulse along each clock line.
  • this action by the processor 30 causes the coefficient loaded in each forwarding circuit to be added to the coefficient loaded in a subsequent forwarding circuit, the result being that each FD circuit of the FD unit 40 produces a new output value. It should be understood that these new output values describe a "new" point p along the centerline curve of the freeform stroke.
  • the FD circuit 110 upon completion of step S1100, produces a "new" horizontal coordinate p x , the FD circuit 120 produces a “new” vertical coordinate p y , and the FD circuit 130 produces a "new" width p w , each of which is associated with the "new" point p.
  • the FD circuit 130 produces a "new” value p dx/dt and the FD circuit 140 produces a "new" value p dy/dt which, as will be described below, are used to generate a unit normal vector associated with the "new" point p.
  • step S1110 After generating the "new" values p x , p y , p w , p dx/dt , and p dy/dt the FD unit 40 transmits the "new" values to the offset generator 60. Upon completion of step S1100, control passes to step S1110.
  • the circuitry required by the offset generator 60 to generate the unit normal vector p n can comprise, for example, adders, multipliers, storage registers, and appropriate control logic.
  • step S1120 the offset generator 60 generates "new" right and left offset points corresponding to the "new" point p. Specifically, the offset generator 60 generates the "new" offset points such that each is associated with a horizontal coordinate and a vertical coordinate generated in accordance with the horizontal coordinate, vertical coordinate, width, and normal vector associated with the "new" point p.
  • the circuitry required by the offset generator 60 to generate the "new" offset points can comprise, for example, adders, multipliers, storage registers, and appropriate control logic.
  • step S1130 the offset generator 60 converts the horizontal and vertical coordinates associated with each of the "new" offset points into horizontal and vertical screen coordinates, respectively.
  • the horizontal and vertical screen coordinates correspond to horizontal and vertical positions, respectively, of pixels on the display 70.
  • the offset generator 60 preferably, selects the high order bits of the internal representations for performing the conversion process.
  • step S1140 the offset generator 60 compares the horizontal and vertical screen coordinate associated with the "new" right offset point with the horizontal and vertical screen coordinates, respectively, associated with the "current" right offset point to determine a right offset horizontal distance and a right offset vertical distance, respectively.
  • step S1140 the offset generator 60 compares the horizontal and vertical screen coordinate associated with the "new" left offset point with the horizontal and vertical screen coordinates, respectively, associated with the "current" left offset point to determine a left offset horizontal distance and a left offset vertical distance, respectively.
  • step S1140 control passes to step S1150.
  • step S1150 the offset generator 60 determines whether each of the right and left offset horizontal distances and each of the right and left offset vertical distances is within a predetermined range of values.
  • the purpose of this step is to determine whether the differences between the screen coordinates associated with the "current" and “new” offset points correspond to the distances between adjacent pixels of the display 70.
  • the "current" and “new” offset points are one pixel distance apart and, therefore, the predetermined range of values, preferably, corresponds to one pixel distance of the display 70.
  • step S1150 If in step S1150 the offset generator 60 determines that any of the right and left offset horizontal distances and the right and left offset vertical distances are not within the predetermined range of values, control passes to step S1160. Otherwise, control passes to step S1170.
  • step S1160 the offset generator 60 instructs the adjustment unit 50 to update the forward differencing coefficients that are stored in its registers in accordance with a new step size, and to load the updated coefficients into the FD unit 40.
  • the offset generator 60 instructs the adjustment unit 50 to update the coefficients in accordance with a doubled step size when any of the right and left offset horizontal distances and right and left offset vertical distances is less than the predetermined range of values.
  • the offset generator 60 instructs the adjustment unit 50 to update the coefficients in accordance with a halved step size when any of the right and left offset horizontal distances and right and left offset vertical distances is greater than the predetermined range of values.
  • step S1170 the offset generator 60 designates the "new" offset points as the "current” offset points. Upon completion of step S1170, control returns to step S1070.
  • the data processing system 200 for generating and displaying a freeform stroke of constant or varying width in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.
  • the data processing system 200 comprises an input device 210, a processor 220, a memory 230, and a display 240.
  • the input device 210 and display 240 of Fig. 6 comprise the same or equivalent components and perform the same or equivalent functions as the input device 20 and display 70, respectively, of Fig. 1.
  • the processor 220 comprises, for example, any standard CPU capable of performing the same or equivalent functions performed by the processor 30, FD unit 40, adjustment unit 50, and offset generator 60 of Fig. 1.
  • the processor 220 can comprise a Motorola 680x0, Intel/IBM R6000, or SPARC.
  • the memory 230 comprises, for example, any of a magnetic, optical, and semiconductor memory for storing a software program which is executed by the processor 220 to enable it to perform the same or equivalent functions performed by the processor 30, FD unit 40, adjustment unit 50, and offset generator 60 of Fig. 1.
  • the memory 230 also serves as a workspace for the processor 220 in a manner known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

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Claims (12)

  1. Procédé de génération et d'affichage d'un trait de forme libre, comprenant les étapes consistant à :
    générer, en utilisant une technique de différenciation vers l'avant adaptative conformément à une taille de pas d'un paramètre t, des points le long d'une courbe de la ligne centrale du trait de forme libre, ladite courbe de la ligne centrale étant une courbe de type spline variant en fonction dudit paramètre t, et chacun desdits points le long de ladite courbe de la ligne centrale étant associé à une coordonnée horizontale définie par une fonction x(t), une coordonnée verticale définie par une fonction y(t), et une largeur définie par une fonction w(t), et caractérisé en ce qu'il comprend les étapes supplémentaires consistant à
    générer un vecteur normal associé à chacun desdits points le long de ladite courbe de la ligne centrale,
    générer des points le long d'une courbe décalée à droite et d'une courbe décalée à gauche pour des points correspondants parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe de la ligne centrale, chacun desdits points le long desdites courbes décalées à droite et à gauche étant associé à une coordonnée horizontale et à une coordonnée verticale générées conformément à la coordonnée horizontale, la coordonnée verticale, la largeur, et le vecteur normal associés à un point correspondant le long de ladite courbe de la ligne centrale, et
    afficher des représentations graphiques desdits points le long desdites courbes décalées à droite et à gauche afin d'afficher une limite extérieure du trait de forme libre.
  2. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel l'étape consistant à générer lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à droite et de ladite courbe décalée à gauche comprend les étapes, exécutées à chaque fois qu'un point le long de ladite courbe décalée à droite et à gauche est généré, consistant à :
    comparer une coordonnée horizontale et une coordonnée verticale associées à un point généré en cours parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à droite avec une coordonnée horizontale et une coordonnée verticale, respectivement, associées à un point généré au préalable parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à droite afin de déterminer une distance horizontale de décalage à droite et une distance verticale de décalage à droite, respectivement, entre ledit point généré en cours parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à droite et ledit point généré au préalable parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à droite,
    comparer une coordonnée horizontale et une coordonnée verticale associées à un point généré en cours parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à gauche avec une coordonnée horizontale et une coordonnée verticale, respectivement, associées à un point généré au préalable parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à gauche afin de déterminer une distance horizontale de décalage à gauche et une distance verticale de décalage à gauche, respectivement, entre ledit point généré en cours parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à gauche et ledit point généré au préalable parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à gauche, et
    déterminer si chacune desdites distances horizontales de décalage à droite et à gauche et chacune desdites distances verticales de décalage à droite et à gauche sont à l'intérieur d'une plage de valeurs prédéterminée.
  3. Procédé selon la revendication 2, comprenant en outre l'étape consistant à faire varier ladite taille de pas dudit paramètre t lorsque l'une quelconque desdites distances horizontales de décalage à droite et à gauche et desdites distances verticales de décalage à droite et à gauche ne sont pas à l'intérieur de ladite plage de valeurs prédéterminée.
  4. Procédé selon la revendication 3, dans lequel l'étape consistant à faire varier ladite taille de pas dudit paramètre t comprend les étapes consistant à :
    augmenter ladite taille de pas dudit paramètre t lorsque l'une quelconque desdites distances horizontales de décalage à droite et à gauche et desdites distances verticales de décalage à droite et à gauche est en-dessous de ladite plage de valeurs prédéterminée, et
    diminuer ladite taille de pas dudit paramètre t, lorsque l'une quelconque desdites distances horizontales de décalage à droite et à gauche et desdites distances verticales de décalage à droite et à gauche dépasse ladite plage de valeurs prédéterminée.
  5. Procédé selon la revendication 2, dans lequel l'étape consistant à afficher lesdites représentations graphiques desdits points le long desdites courbes décalées à droite et à gauche comprend l'étape consistant à afficher des représentations graphiques desdits points le long desdites courbes décalées à droite et à gauche uniquement lorsque chacune desdites distances horizontales de décalage à droite et à gauche et desdites distances verticales de décalage à droite et à gauche est à l'intérieur de ladite plage de valeurs prédéterminée.
  6. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel l'étape consistant à générer lesdits points le long de ladite courbe de la ligne centrale comprend les étapes, exécutées avant l'étape consistant à générer des points le long de ladite courbe de la ligne centrale, consistant à :
    spécifier des coefficients de coordonnées horizontales, des coefficients de coordonnées verticales, et des coefficients de largeurs décrivant lesdites fonctions x(t), y(t) et w(t), respectivement, et
    spécifier une taille de pas initiale dudit paramètre t.
  7. Dispositif destiné à générer et à afficher un trait de forme libre, comprenant :
    un moyen destiné à générer, en utilisant une technique de différenciation vers l'avant adaptative conformément à une taille de pas d'un paramètre t, des points le long d'une courbe de la ligne centrale du trait de forme libre, ladite courbe de la ligne centrale étant une courbe de type spline variant en fonction dudit paramètre t, et chacun desdits points le long de ladite courbe de la ligne centrale étant associé à une coordonnée horizontale définie par une fonction x(t), une coordonnée verticale définie par une fonction y(t), et une largeur définie par une fonction w(t),
       et caractérisé en ce qu'il comprend en outre:
    un moyen destiné à générer un vecteur normal associé à chacun desdits points le long de ladite courbe de la ligne centrale,
    un moyen destiné à générer des points le long d'une courbe décalée à droite et d'une courbe décalée à gauche pour des points correspondants parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe de la ligne centrale, chacun desdits points le long desdites courbes décalées à droite et à gauche étant associé à une coordonnée horizontale et à une coordonnée verticale générées conformément à la coordonnée horizontale, à la coordonnée verticale, à la largeur, et au vecteur normal associés à un point correspondant le long de ladite courbe de la ligne centrale, et
    un moyen destiné à afficher des représentations graphiques desdits points le long desdites courbes décalées à droite et à gauche afin d'afficher une limite extérieure du trait de forme libre.
  8. Dispositif selon la revendication 7, dans lequel ledit moyen destiné à générer lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à droite et de ladite courbe décalée à gauche comprend :
    un moyen destiné à, à chaque fois qu'un point le long de ladite courbe décalée à droite et à gauche est généré,
    comparer une coordonnée horizontale et une coordonnée verticale associées à un point généré en cours parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à droite avec une coordonnée horizontale et une coordonnée verticale, respectivement, associées à un point généré au préalable parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à droite afin de déterminer une distance horizontale de décalage à droite et une distance verticale de décalage à droite, respectivement, entre ledit point généré en cours parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à droite et ledit point généré au préalable parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à droite,
    comparer une coordonnée horizontale et une coordonnée verticale associées à un point généré en cours parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à gauche avec une coordonnée horizontale et une coordonnée verticale, respectivement, associées à un point généré au préalable parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à gauche afin de déterminer une distance horizontale de décalage à gauche et une distance verticale de décalage à gauche, respectivement, entre ledit point généré en cours parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à gauche et ledit point généré au préalable parmi lesdits points le long de ladite courbe décalée à gauche, et
    déterminer si chacune desdites distances horizontales de décalage à droite et à gauche et chacune desdites distances verticales de décalage à droite et à gauche sont à l'intérieur d'une plage de valeurs prédéterminée.
  9. Dispositif selon la revendication 8, comprenant en outre un moyen destiné à faire varier ladite taille de pas dudit paramètre t lorsque l'une quelconque desdites distances horizontales décalées à droite et à gauche et desdites distances verticales décalées à droite et à gauche ne sont pas à l'intérieur de ladite plage de valeurs prédéterminée.
  10. Dispositif selon la revendication 9, dans lequel ledit moyen destiné à faire varier ladite taille de pas dudit paramètre t comprend :
    un moyen destiné à augmenter ladite taille de pas dudit paramètre t lorsque l'une quelconque desdites distances horizontales de décalage à droite et à gauche et desdites distances verticales de décalage à droite et à gauche est en-dessous de ladite plage de valeurs prédéterminée, et
    un moyen destiné à diminuer ladite taille de pas dudit paramètre t lorsque l'une quelconque desdites distances horizontales de décalage à droite et à gauche et desdites distances verticales de décalage à droite et à gauche dépasse ladite plage de valeurs prédéterminée.
  11. Dispositif selon la revendication 8, dans lequel ledit moyen destiné à afficher lesdites représentations graphiques desdits points le long desdites courbes décalées à droite et à gauche, affiche lesdites représentations graphiques uniquement lorsque chacune desdites distances horizontales de décalage à droite et à gauche et desdites distances verticales de décalage à droite et à gauche sont à l'intérieur de ladite plage de valeurs prédéterminée.
  12. Dispositif selon la revendication 7, dans lequel ledit moyen destiné à générer lesdits points le long de ladite courbe de la ligne centrale comprend :
    un moyen destiné à, avant la génération desdits points le long de ladite courbe de la ligne centrale, spécifier des coefficients de coordonnées horizontales, des coefficients de coordonnées verticales, et des coefficients de largeurs décrivant lesdites fonctions x(t), y(t), et w(t), respectivement, et
    un moyen destiné à, avant la génération desdits points le long de ladite courbe de la ligne centrale, spécifier une taille de pas initiale dudit paramètre t.
EP92311715A 1991-12-30 1992-12-22 Génération et affichage de traits de forme libre dans des afficheurs graphiques Expired - Lifetime EP0550245B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US07/814,652 US5341467A (en) 1991-12-30 1991-12-30 Method and apparatus for generating and displaying freeform strokes of varying or constant width using adaptive forward differencing
US814652 1991-12-30

Publications (3)

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EP0550245A2 EP0550245A2 (fr) 1993-07-07
EP0550245A3 EP0550245A3 (fr) 1994-01-05
EP0550245B1 true EP0550245B1 (fr) 1998-03-25

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EP (1) EP0550245B1 (fr)
JP (1) JPH05258071A (fr)
DE (1) DE69224891T2 (fr)

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JP3638637B2 (ja) * 1994-06-17 2005-04-13 株式会社ナムコ ポリゴンデータ変換装置及び３次元シミュレータ装置
GB9719694D0 (en) * 1997-09-16 1997-11-19 Canon Kk Image processing apparatus
EP0930585B1 (fr) 1998-01-14 2004-03-31 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Appareil pour la traitement d'images.
US6697080B2 (en) * 1999-07-08 2004-02-24 Intel Corporation Scalable smoothing of generalized polygons
CN111325815B (zh) * 2020-03-05 2023-05-02 成都威爱新经济技术研究院有限公司 一种多层级b样条曲线的编辑方法
CN112486094B (zh) * 2020-11-30 2022-07-05 哈尔滨工业大学（威海） 复杂曲面侧铣加工的刀具优化和加工轨迹生成方法

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US4674058A (en) * 1981-12-07 1987-06-16 Dicomed Corporation Method and apparatus for flexigon representation of a two dimensional figure
US4620287A (en) * 1983-01-20 1986-10-28 Dicomed Corporation Method and apparatus for representation of a curve of uniform width
US4855935A (en) * 1987-05-08 1989-08-08 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Method and apparatus for rendering vectors using bresenham parameters
JP2752975B2 (ja) * 1987-09-25 1998-05-18 株式会社東芝 ３次曲線プロット方法
US4912659A (en) * 1987-10-30 1990-03-27 International Business Machines Corporation Parallel surface processing system for graphics display
US4933889A (en) * 1988-04-29 1990-06-12 International Business Machines Corporation Method for fine decomposition in finite element mesh generation

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DE69224891D1 (de) 1998-04-30
EP0550245A3 (fr) 1994-01-05
JPH05258071A (ja) 1993-10-08
US5341467A (en) 1994-08-23
DE69224891T2 (de) 1998-10-01
EP0550245A2 (fr) 1993-07-07

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